Railroad-gate



W. C. HARMAN.

RAILROAD GATE. APPLICATION FILED JULY n.191s.

Patented Feb. 10, 1920. 2 SHEETSSHEET I W. C. HARMAN.

RAILROAD em.

APPLICATION mtb mu H. 1919.

Patented Feb. 10,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Witnemwo UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. HARMAN, OF JOHNSTON CIT Y, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Feb.10,1920.

Substitute for application Serial No. 828,900, filed April 1, 1914. This application filed July 11, 1919. Serial No. 310,224.

the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railroad gates, and more particularly to means for operating the same.

An object of the invention is to providefor the automatic movement of the gate into operative or inoperative position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a gate which will greatly reduce the number of accidents at grade crossings.

With these and other objects in view, such as will be evident as the description proceeds, my invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts as herein set forth.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of my device.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of the means for moving the gates into operative position.

Fi 4 is an enlarged view of the latch mem er.

b Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the latch Fig. 6 is a section on the line XX of Fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of one gate with the actuating mechanism attached thereto.

Fig. 8 is a section on the line Y-Y of Fig. 1. v

Fig. 9 is a sectional view on line 9 9 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 10 is a section on line 10-10 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of thearrows, and

Fig. 11 is a horizontal sectional view taken through the latch box.

Referring to the drawings by reference characters wherein like parts are indicated by like characters:

1 indicates the rails of a rail-road track and 2 indicates the ties.

Attached to one of the ties adjacent a grade crossing and extending upwardly therefrom are gate supports 3. Pivoted to the upper ends of these supports, at 4, are, gates 5 having extended arms 6 adapted to be projected across a road and operating weights? to lift the said gates.

On the upper ends of these supports are projections 8 for limiting the downward movement of the gates. 1

Attached to the supports and extending upwardly therefrom are projecting members 9 for obscuring from the vision any warning that may be written upon the gates, when they are in inoperative position.

In-order to lower the gates I have provided the following mechanism:

Attached to one of the ties 2 any desirable distance ahead of the gate is a bearing member 10 in which is pivoted, at 10, an upwardly inclined actuating member 11. The free end of this member 11 is pivotally attached, at 11, to a link 12 which in turn is pivoted to a second link 13, at 13 which link 18 is pivotally supported, at 14, on a member 14.

Formed on the end of the member 11 and 1 extending downwardly and outwardly therefrom is an arm 15. This arm 15 rests upon the cam face 15 of an upwardly extending inclined member16 which is attached to a cable adjusting member 16'. Attached. to this member 16 by a link 16 and extending therefrom is a cable 18 which is attached, at its other end, to a link 18 and is supported by a member 19.. This link 18' is attached, at its other end, to a crank portion 20 of a shaft 21. This shaft 21 extends transversely across the track beneath the rails 1 thereof and is mounted in bearings 22. each end of the shaft 21 is an upwardly extending arm 23having on its end a cam 24 which is arranged to ride upon the cam face 25 of the adjacent gate 5. When a train approaches a grade crossing, which crossing is provided with a device constructed as above described, a suitable projection on the locomotive bears upon the link 12 and moves the same downwardly. This downward movement of the link 12 moves the end of the actuating member 11 downwardly and the arm 15 moves downwardly on the cam face 15 of the member 16 while the cable 18 is pulled so that the crank shaft 21 is turned thus rotating the arms 23 so that the cams 24 thereon ride toward the free ends of the cam faces 25 on the gates and thus turn the gates about their pivots to swing into operative or horizontal positions across the road.

In order that the gates may be locked in their horizontal positions, I have secured an extension 26 on the shaft 21, to which extension a link 27 is secured, which link is, at its other end, loosely attached to a cranlr arm 28 of a shaft 29, which shaft is mounted in suitable bearings 29 and is provided on one end with a projection 30 which is adapted to extend vertically and is maintained in such position by a cam 31 which is formed upon a lever 32, which lever is pivoted, at 31 in a latchbox 33. This cam 31 is normally held in the line of movement of the projection 30 by a coil spring 44 which is attached to the cam 31 and to the casing 33 as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 11 of the drawing. A lever 32 bears against a cam face 34 of the lever 32 and is pivoted, at 44. To the end of this lever 32 an operating cable 34 is attached, which cable extends and is connected to a crank portion 36 of a rod R, which rod is rotatably mounted in a bearing 36 and which extends upwardly as illustrated in Fig. 6 of the drawing and thence horizontally as at 37. A projection 38 extends from the horizontal portion 37 of the rod R for a purpose which will later appear. Pivoted, at 41, is a trip member 40 which is normally pushed upwardly by a s ring 41 and is provided with a cam 42 whic has a cam face engaging the under face of the horizontal portion 37 of the rod R so that this portion of the rod is urged normally into engagement with a limiting member 39. A coil spring 42 is secured to this strip member 40 and to the tie 2, at 43, for a purpose which will later appear. The under face of the cam 42 is likewise a cam face.

' the trip member 40 may have lateral movement and .to the fact that a cam face engages the said horizontal portion of the rod. The further movement of this trip member will be rot'ative about the pivot 41 and cause the trip member to engage the projection 38 sothat the .said projection will be moved downwardly, the rod rotated in the bearing 36', the crank portion 36 of the rod moved and the cable 34 drawn so that the lever 32 will move on the cam face 34 of the lever 32 and retract the cam 31 from the path of movement of the projection 30. When this projection 30 is released the Weights 7 on the arms 6 will raise'the said arms about their pivots. Now as soon as the trip member 40 is disengaged by the projection on the engine the spring 42 will operate to return the trip member to its initial position at whichtime the said trip member will again have lateral movement and the cam 42 will ride past the horizontal portion 37 of the rod R. ,It is, of course, to be understood that this positioning of the cam 42 beneath the horizontal portion 37 of the rod R occurs previous to the contacting of the trip member 40 with the spring 41.

While I have described the mechanism only on one side of the road I have disclosed in Fig. 1 the mechanism on the other side but have omitted the reference characters therefrom and it is to be understood that this mechanism is identical with that described with the exception that the cable corresponding to the cable 34 is attached directly t0l the lever 32.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided mechanism for raising railway gates and for automatically locking the gates in their raised position and I have further provided means for releasing the locking means, which releasing means is engaged by the passing engine and is automatically reset.

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of my invention, it

has merely been for the sake of convenience and I do not wish to be limited to that particular embodiment as it is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding :the-

scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is: 4

The combination with a pair of pivoted railroad gates, of weights for raising the same, means for'moving the gates intoi horizontal positions including a shaft having a pair of arms thereon slidably engaging the said gates, means for rotating the shaft, means for locking the shaft in its rotated position and means for releasing the locking means.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM C. HARMAN.

Witnesses:

F. LOMB, J. A. BAIAN. 

